March 28, 1991: J. "Smokey" Stover from Sunnyvale rigged up a pipe to save hundreds of gallons of water around his home.

March 28, 1991: J. "Smokey" Stover from Sunnyvale rigged up a pipe to save hundreds of gallons of water around his home.

Photo: The Chronicle

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Dec. 4, 1989: A flow reducer for a shower head. These were give away for free at local libraries and other city buildings.

Dec. 4, 1989: A flow reducer for a shower head. These were give away for free at local libraries and other city buildings.

Photo: The Chronicle

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March 16, 1991: Goodman's hardware store in Mill Valley has a whole shelf for water flow products -- a common sight during past California droughts.

March 16, 1991: Goodman's hardware store in Mill Valley has a whole shelf for water flow products -- a common sight during past California droughts.

Photo: The Chronicle

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Dec. 23, 1976: A gondola heads up to a rocky snowless peak on Squaw Valley in the winter before the 1977 drought.

Dec. 23, 1976: A gondola heads up to a rocky snowless peak on Squaw Valley in the winter before the 1977 drought.

Photo: The Chronicle

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Remembering the California droughts of 1977 and 1991 (photos)

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I was barely six years old, but I remember the California drought of 1977. We put bricks in our toilets to conserve water, and let the lawn go brown. And while my memory is fuzzy, somehow I processed that this was the fault of the people in Los Angeles, and specifically the Rams football team. (My family members were and still are big San Francisco 49ers fans.)

For a first-grader in Burlingame, the drought seemed like an adventure. As we prepare for a similar situation in 2013, the reality is a little more stark. I think the younger generations may be more hardwired for conservation. But they’re also a lot softer than my boomer parents — who grew up under the watch of adults who gutted through real struggle during World War II and The Depression.

As a reminder/necessary scare tactic, I looked in the Chronicle archives for some of the newspapers more memorable drought photos. I chose Bay Area images from the 1977 and 1991 droughts, plus two from New York in 1949.

A few more thoughts after the lady getting busted by the water police …

Photo: Terry Schmitt/The Chronicle

* I know we’re supposed to be judging this family for using 883 gallons of water a day, but all I can think is “poor Phyllis Olson.” I’m sure for the next 35 years whether she was playing bridge, shopping at the Hayward Gemco or buying Girl Scout cookies, she was always “that lady from the Chronicle who got her water shut off.”

* If anyone knows Cindy from the San Rafael shower photo, please have her contact me at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com. I’d like to interview her for my Let’s Go to the Q&A project.

* Again, my memory is fuzzy, but other than the drought year, I don’t remember conservation being drilled into us at school, etc., when I was a kid. Sure, Woodsy Owl came on Channel 44 every other commercial block and told us to give a hoot. But in my 6-year-old mind, it seemed like the drought was more of a temporary inconvenience, not part of a greater threat to the planet.

I recycled cans and bottles when I got in my tweens and early teens, but it purely to make money for Atari 2600 cartridges, not out of a sense of duty or necessity. Fast forward to 2014, and my sons seem like they were hardwired to recycle and understand the importance of resource conservation in the womb. So that’s a a good thing …

* A huge thanks to Chronicle archive Yoda/librarian Bill Van Niekerken, who bailed me out when he realized that the best photos were filed under “Water-Shortages,” not just “Climate-Drought.” The Chronicle photo morgue can be a confusing place if you don’t have a capable guide …

Looking forward to hearing your drought memories in the comments.

PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder/editor of The Big Event. He takes requests. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peterhartlaub. Follow The Big Event on Facebook.